Literacy Development in School-Aged Children With Simultaneous Bilateral Cochlear Implants

This 2-year study investigated the literacy development of school-aged children who were born deaf and received simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants at the age of 2 years old or younger. All participants lived in Ontario, Canada, and were identified with a hearing loss through UNHS or an Audiologist between birth and 21 months of age. Eight students, 2 females and 6 males, ranged in age between 5.5 and 9.1 years old, placing them in senior kindergarten to Grade 4 at initial time of testing. One participant withdrew after Phase 1, therefore data analysis was conducted on 7 participants. Levels of achievement in reading, writing, language, and phonological processing were measured through standardized assessment tools appropriate for school-aged children: the Clinical Evaluation of Language FundamentalsFifth Edition (Wiig, Semel, & Secord, 2013), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition (Dunn & Dunn, 2007), The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 2001) and the Woodcock-Johnson Test of AchievementIII (Schrank, Mather, & Woodcock, 2004). Writing samples were assessed using A Guide to Effective Instruction in Writing, Kindergarten to Grade 3 (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2005), and The Ontario Curriculum: Exemplars, Grades 18: Writing (Ontario Ministry of Education and Training, 1999). Overall, the results of the study indicate that this cohort of 7 students demonstrates average achievement in reading, receptive and expressive language, vocabulary, and phonological awareness that is within age norms. It is only in the area of writing that age-appropriate outcomes are not being achieved. It is also worth noting that, of the children in this group, those who received their implants before 12 months showed the strongest performance is all areas.